Retirement Planning The Offshore Way

Retirement planning the offshore way is not for everyone. The fact that you read this means that the offshore route appeals to you.

It doesn't mean that you have to retire physically offshore, but that you at least move your center of economic activity offshore.

Planning the offshore way comes natural to expatriates. You know how to operate in offshore jurisdictions because you had to go through the process in the course of being an expatriate. You know how to read and interpret your home country's tax treaties with offshore countries and you also know how to exploit it legally to your benefit.

Cross border shopping becomes a way of life. You soon learn what to buy where at the best price!

I think it is more difficult for the person who traveled often and extensively, but remained based in the home country. Going the offshore way calls for a massive mind shift. If you have not lived and operated offshore for at least a year, making the paradigm shift might be impossible.

I had the good fortune early in my career to work offshore for a year. I was keen and curious to find out what the big deal was on this offshore thing. I quickly learnt about currencies, exchange rates, and how to deal with it legally to my benefit. Something the locals, and other expatriates, have been doing for decades! (Elsewhere on this Website I tell the story why I started to use Swiss banks and never looked back.)

Subsequently I had to travel extensively offshore for business purposes and, over time, started to implement an offshore retirement plan.

When I moved to Switzerland late in my career as CEO of an international company, the mind shift has already happened and I could continue planning retirement the offshore way. When I retired three years later, we decided to stay on offshore and enjoy the Swiss quality of life that is unsurpassed. It was only natural to make Switzerland our center of economic activity.

When we moved back home after eleven years in Switzerland, our entire retirement structure was set up in Switzerland and it operates smoothly.

It works for me, but let me immediately qualify: Very few of my former colleagues, business partners, or friends went the offshore way. Even though some of them were expatriates for several years. The offshore way is not for everyone!